Aurora "Infections Of A Different Kind (Step 1)" (2018)

The two steps of Infections Of A Different Kind starts with this eight track EP, to be followed up by a full length album, the second part. Conceptually it feels like another collection of songs with perhaps a lusher production and temperament than its preceding All My Demons Greeting Me As A Friend. Maybe the album will expand on these halves. On its own Step 1 is simply another gorgeous illumination of Aurora's dazzling voice. Its instrumental's feel a step more ambitious as subtlety is traded for bright and bold surges of complexity. Pianos, drums, layers of synth elevate from atmosphere brooding beginnings into ravishing swells of color and harmony. The tribal percussive undercurrent always drives the music forward and the whole thing plays like a temple of worship to her voice, soaring above all like a beam of light.

It starts with a bang, a couple of lively tracks driven punchy drumming, then through its trajectory grows increasingly soothing and calmer in nature. The songwriting is just wonderful, seemingly simple but beautifully arranged and quite often experimenting with Aurora's presence and form. For example, It Happened Quiet is a unique track in comparison as male voices are brought in for Gregorian alike chants. Most the other songs just find interesting ways to layer her voice, playing with reverbs and harmonization but through it all tugging at heart strings and creating ear worms with her infectious lyrical lines resonating from a gorgeous voicing. Its really moving in its best moments, loving everything about her music right now and eager for more!

Favorite Tracks: Forgotten Love, All Is Soft Inside, Churchyard

Rating: 8/10

Aurora "All My Demons Greeting Me As A Friend" (2016)

Peeling back from the subtle cultural Scandinavian chill felt on her debut EP Running With The Wolves, Aurora's first full length brings about ten new songs alongside two of old that steer the sails to warmer waters. This is no u-turn but a feasible shift from what is usually a draw for me, the darker things. It undoubtedly retains a moody gothic tinge but as the album gets into its stride the percussion livens up with EDM thuds to bolster the roots. Melodies sparkle and animate with color and a few energized tracks emerge between the often instrumentally steady approach that gives focus to Aurora.

Her voice is center stage and many a heart string she tugs with her personality as a singer. The choices in harmonization and delivery ooze with spirit and feeling, an infectious style that so easily sweeps you up and away, getting lost in the beauty of these elegant songs that stroll between melancholy and hope. With a heavenly spirit and mournful respite, her music can be felt like a lonely catharsis at many a time.

The bursts of pop melody and upbeat tempos carry a different form of charm and so the record tends to sway between its ends, soaking you up in color and warmth, then letting the frayed ends of a sorrow gone by wash over as the instrumentals subside to let her charm emanate. Subtly is king again, the accompanying instruments seem to linger in the balance, even taking ample opportunity to become focal in swells of emotional out pour. Its all simply brilliant with little to criticize other than favoring some tracks over others however each song in its moment feels like one of the best.

Favorite Tracks: Through The Eyes Of A Child, Murder Song, Home, Black Water Lilies

Rating: 8/10

Aurora "Running With The Wolves" (2015)

Its has begun to dawn on me that some of the most enchanting feminine voices Ive heard in recent memory are mostly Scandinavian! Hailing from snowy Norway, Aurora Aksnes is a young singer with a simply beautiful temperament of voice, balancing strength and harmony in a striking tone you'll know as hers. She has a soaring grace and toying playfulness, so often bursting from words to melodies with a knack for infection as her tunes swiftly soak up your subconscious and dig in deep. Her performances are sublime, emanating with emotion and meaning, her soaring moments may take your attention but the soft spoken wording between the surges of power are mesmerizing too, she moves between the two with true direction. This her debut record, a short EP but one Ive adored.

Behind her, soft and spacious instrumentals flirt with electronic melodies, atmospheric synths and a percussion that broods in anticipation and unleashes momentous drive in tandem with Aurora. It swells and calms with precision, melodies never overpower and despite being mostly poppy, uplifting and welcoming their is a little bit of that northern chill breezing through. It is mainly felt in the drums. Despite being electronic in timbre, they rattle of tribal grooves in bursts of energy that feel ancestral and rooted. These are four wonderfully crafted songs, all unique, painting an authentic spiritual warmness in the places they take you to. I'm certain I will enjoy the next few records!

Rating: 7/10

Front Line Assembly "Wake Up The Coma" (2019)

Having enjoyed the Canadian Electro-Industrial pioneer's recent Warmech soundtrack, I thought I'd tune in for a regular record. Right off the bat I have to say their is a lot of mediocrity at play, a passable record as background music but not mustering up much excitement in the forefront bar a few good compositions. Ive given it many listens over the months since its release but its failed to grab me, I can't be to critical though, its not terrible, just all too average to make itself known.

Far from the jolty, harsh and rigid machinations of their origins, FLA's slick production gives a modern aesthetic touch. Tight synth arrangements and punchy drum machines have a competent amount of variety and detail to bolster up the core components that build dystopian, mechanical atmospheres. Voices take on a mix of whispered cries soaked in echos and alien distortions, all playing into the altered human persona much of its charisma resides within. There are many breaks in flow, often using the textural tones of synths and clattering drum sounds to orchestrate physical, Industrial movements but its rarely exciting in anyway.

Most the songs tend to circle a theme. Progression don't amount to much and most of the tracks start where they end in terms of tone and setting. That's why I think its failed to get a grip on me. It does run into a few gaudy moments, the lyrical pondering of making love to an alien on Living A Lie is mostly an amusing line for a hook. Nick Holmes turns it around in the next track, lending his voice for a fantastic chorus on the title track. That's about all I have to say, its all a bit too routine, lacking spice.

Favorite Track: Wake Up The Coma

Rating: 4/10

Billie Eilish "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?" (2019)

Here's a fact that makes me feel drowsy, Billie was born after 9/11... Let that sink in, what a reminder of how time gets past you... Her name has circulated past me plenty of times and after hearing she broke records for youngest performing artist at various festivals I had to check this one out. When We Fall Asleep is her debut album and the Teenager's hype presents itself swiftly but lasts after many spins. With a charmingly soft and subdued voice, this fusion of Pop and Electronic music stands apart with an Avant-garde edge in vocal experimentation that toys with distortion and more.

The norms are present, typically sensible and poppy melodies linger throughout. Warm and easy pianos drop in chords to chime with airy synth tones in easily digestible arrangements. Softly strummed guitars and easy percussion make for light listening too, its all good stuff. Each song has its temperament and the charm emerges mostly from these snappy crunchy beats, that bite into stereo spectrum, crisp and brittle. With sharp attacks and swift decays they carry quite the subtle persuasion, infusing a keener edge that sticks into her mostly approachable music.

Across the songs her voice shows quite the dynamism, often breaking from the breathy and softly sung words that malign most the instrumentals. Heavenly choral harmonization and quirky pitch shifting, many of the songs have a twist that ends up being a focal point of delight. Playing with echos, reverbs, stuttering delays and distortion its clear that a lot of experimentation takes place in her process. Whats wonderful is how it lands on the target. Never does a vocal quirk feel forced, its all very inspirational and fluid, emotional and riveting in authenticity.

Her songs seem to be able to take these abstractions and flesh them out into living entities that feel and express. This even extends the spectacle of including samples from the Micheal Scarn episode of TV show The Office. On one hand it seems unrelated to the lyrics but somehow fits in. There isn't a moment of this record I don't love. Its well fleshed out with exciting musical experimentation that flourishes, swaying between emotive surges and bursts of percussive force. On a couple of tracks her vocal style almost borders ASMR, a slight irritation but a possible influence on a young artist who undoubtedly knows of the phenomena. This has been a fantastic record and I can't wait to hear what she will do next!

Favorite Tracks: You Should See Me In A Crowd, When The Partys Over, I Love You, Goodbye
Rating: 8/10

Windows96 "One Hundred Mornings" (2018)

I've always maintained a key interest in Vapourwave, the Internet's own truly international and border-less music scene. The unfortunate problem is quality. This is a genre plagued by low effort releases, often hinged around pitch shifted and time stretched re-sampling. It makes discovery hard but luckily Ive found this Brazilian musician who operates under the Windows96 pseudonym. They have the theming and aesthetics down and I'm happy to report the music is there too!

One Hundred Mornings gets off to a reasonable start with slightly off kilt drum arrangements and quirky synth tones taking up most of the focus. It builds atmosphere and steadily lures one into its particular vibe, a mesh of nostalgia tones and childish wonder. Its kitsch snippets of obscure cartoon sounds bouncing of the multiple layers of resonant synths has it start with its magic muffled somewhat.

As the song Visions I kicks in, the samples draw back and a lead instrument whirls around, dancing in the winds above its clunky drum groove and blocky baseline. Its here that the record gets into a stride, unleashing inspiring melodies and swelling with emotions. Its wobbly keyboards and murky low fidelity tricks find a warm cohesion where the aesthetic and music really start to compliment one another.

The pivot feels somewhat inspired by 80s Synthpop, the chord arrangements and notations of Bliss seeming almost like a Tears For Fears song re imagined through a new set of sounds. Its a very enjoyable record, warm uplifting mellow moods through the lens of nostalgia play, acting as if it resides in a infatuated past. The off kilt and sample oriented components don't hit home as hard but when the real musical composition comes through it shines bright in these lovely surges of swooning melody.

Favorite Tracks: Visions I, Bliss, Rituals

Rating: 7/10

Bring Me The Horizon "Amo" (2019)

Ive been highly anticipating Bring Me The Horizon's return since their monumental That's The Spirit, a modern day Hybrid Theory. Its unsurprising to hear the band further move into the Pop realm, the continual direction shift is fruitful and exciting. Inviting larger synth elements of EDM and Electropop in to subtly tune out their distortion guitars in places, they manage to retain an intensity and heaviness associated with the band. Its the songwriting that triumphs once again as infectious catchy hooks take hold center stage in much of the music. Oli is a huge component to its achievement, taking his voice to many harmonious places with many infectious lyrics. Amo is a logical move forward but perhaps not quite at the same grade.

BMTH certainly have a finger on the pulse of current music and an uncanny ability to evolve their sound and infuse these fresh Electronic and Pop ideas. The transition is utterly seamless and its broadened pallet of sounds gives a depth to the experience as key songs stick out with a defining character. Title track Amo and Mother Tounge pulls in 90s Dance pianos and punchy strings for a Pop epics that spans the decades. Mantra, Wonderful Life and Sugar Honey Ice & Tea, bring in sonic seven string guitar groves in the choruses offset by lighter overdrives between. Interlude pieces Fresh Bruises and Ouch dive into some flavored Glitch Hop passageways and only Nihilist Blues sounds behind the curb with a synth sound reminiscent of 009 Sound System.

Its mostly dense and detailed music, cramming many instruments and complimenting electronic tones into the available space, scaling its richness with the ebb and flow of the music which graces between its fluffy, light pop and crunching grooves, both between songs and within them too. Its A dynamic record with a depth of variety and detail for the ears but with many listens the edge is taken off its less focused and atmospheric leaning compositions that slow the stream. Amo is ultimately a great transition for the group, a strong strive forward but moving from one peak to another they loose a little in the quantity of killer tunes. That's The Spirit was a riot from start to end and Amo drifts of on differen't avenues, intensities and styles that breaks up its magic for periods. The variety is great but not each approach is triumphed.

Favorite Tracks: Mantra, Sugar Honey Ice & Tea

Rating: 6/10

VNV Nation "Noire" (2018)

Admittedly I had fallen behind with VNV Nation. Of Faith Power And Glory is the last record of theirs I own, that was almost over ten years ago! It is long overdue and I return to a lengthy album, over seventy minutes of new material that does not fly far from the nest, or even leave it. Every song sounds sweetly akin to a style perfected many years ago. It is only the a lone piano piece, Chopin cover, Nocturne No. Seven, that has any distinct resemblance to any theme portrayed by the name Noire.

The other twelve tracks are a keen collection of aptly tuned, finely crafted intelligent pop songs, structured through inspiration and channeled with aesthetic synth tones that pay eternal homage to Kraftwerk through layered arrangements of oscillated notation. That connection only struct me now as Ive only known of the German outfits legacy for a few years now. The track Guiding is a percussion less interlude piece that may in one moment show shades of a dusky Noire but can't help reach an uplifting stride through its warm and empowering string section that casts its light upon the music like rays of beaming light breaking through overcast clouds.

Its the one thing I can't put my finger on. As in the name, victory not vengeance, VNV Nation are continually uplifting, resolute and principled. This is the expectant working out of thought and lifes emotions through intelligent lyricism and sharp, crisp music. With a contagious dance thud and dose of inspired pop melody they stand with composed, broad shoulders, singing with sincerity as the atmosphere rises around them. None if it seems to verge towards anything resembling 40s Noire

Like many of their previous records VNV tend to dip toes into the various degrees of their formulae. Impresed leans into their meaner, Industrial side with a focus on the pounding beat. Collide rises itself from a longing sadness. Lights Go Out drives home a hook for the club life and Only Satellites reaches its arms to the sky in a eutrophic wander. Its all shades of a design they know all to well, soft airy and choral synths building atmosphere around dance-able EBM beats executed again with a familiar fondness but also made greater by absence. It does feel like little has changed.

Favorite Tracks: Armour, God Of All, Lights Go Out, Only Satalites

Rating: 7/10